BJP leaders booked in Maharashtra over hate speech against Muslims
Mumbai: The police in the Indian state of Maharashtra have filed a case against Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) T Raja Singh and Nitesh Rane for making genocidal speeches against Muslims at a Hindu Jan Aakrosh rally in Solapur district.
The police also named several office-bearers of an umbrella body of Hindutva organizations, the Sakal Hindu Samaj, in the first information report.
The police filed the case under provisions of the Indian Penal Code dealing with creating enmity between two different groups and acts intended to outrage religious feelings.
Raja Singh, who is involved in several hate speech cases in Telangana state, made several derogatory and genocidal statements at the event in Solapur. During the rally, held on Saturday (January 6), He instigated the crowd to assault Love Jihadis and boycott products with halal certification.
“Love jihad” is a Hindutva conspiracy theory that Muslim men lure Hindu women into romantic relationships in order to convert them to Islam. The Indian Union Home Ministry has told Parliament that Indian law has no provision defining “love jihad”.
Raja Singh – the MLA from Telangana’s Goshamahal constituency – also called for demolition of mosques and suggested that the Maharashtra government provide bulldozers to MLAs and MPs to be used like Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath does.
“The way Yogi Adityanath runs bulldozers on love jihadis, the Maharashtra government should also buy and keep some bulldozers. They must gift them to MLAs and MPs and tell them to use them, we’ll see who will do ‘gau hatya’ [cow slaughter] then,” Raja Singh said.
Nitesh Narayan Rane is a member of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
